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BOISE — Emergency legislation was introduced on a party-line vote in the Senate Resources Committee on Wednesday to allow any Idahoan with a hunting license and a wolf tag to shoot wolves year-round in newly designated “wolf-free zones” in the state.

Sen. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, sponsor of the bill, said, “The purpose of this legislation … is to try to start to get a handle on our wolf population … in particular … on depredation that’s occurring.”

“Wolf numbers have continued to increase,” Brackett said. “Livestock depredation remains unacceptably high. … More needs to be done. Ranchers’ livelihoods are being threatened by wolves.”

The “wolf-free” zones would be specific big-game hunting units that Brackett said are “generally south of the Snake River, but south of the interstate, I-84.” They are units 38, 40, 41, 42, 46, 47, 53, 54, 55, 56 and 57.

Brackett’s bill also would declare any big-game hunting unit in which depredation, or killing of other animals, by wolves has occurred in four of the past five years to be “chronic depredation zones.” That depredation would include wolf-kills of other animals as documented by the Idaho Fish & Game Commission or the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service. In those zones, as well, hunters with a valid hunting license and wolf tag could take wolves year-round.

The proposal also includes a clause saying that the new zones would remain in effect as long as there are more than 20 packs, or 200 wolves, in the state of Idaho. It includes an emergency clause, making it effective immediately upon passage and approval by the governor.

“I want to make it clear I don’t want to diminish in any respect the commission’s effort the past several years to try to get a handle on the program,” Brackett said, “but the issue remains. I realize many of the efforts that have been made to control the wolves in high-depredation areas have been done incrementally through hunting and especially in trapping, which is a very effective method.”

He said, “Idaho has a good wolf management plan — we just need to follow it.”Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, moved to introduce Brackett’s bill, and Bair’s motion carried on a party-line vote, with just the panel’s two minority Democrats, Sens. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, and Maryanne Jordan, D-Boise, dissenting. The vote clears the way for a possible full hearing on the bill in the committee. To become law, it still would need to pass both the Senate and House and be signed by the governor.

After the committee’s vote, Senate Resources Chairman Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, said: “Thank you, Sen. Brackett. We appreciate your efforts in this regard.”Idaho Fish & Game Deputy Director Sharon Kiefer said after the vote that she hadn’t yet had a chance to review the bill. “I will tell you that certainly Sen. Brackett, over the last couple-three years, has articulated concerns about wolves, not believing that it would be appropriate for wolves to get a foothold south of I-84, because it’s an obviously high-conflict area, and it’s frankly really not wolf habitat. Certainly the commission is aware of that concern,” she said. “I know they’ve taken a few management steps relative to that area.”

While wolves may pass through the area, she said, “I don’t believe we have any evidence that there are any actual packs making a living in that area.”

$408,000 , to count wolves , yeah there's plenty more tax dollars where that came from .

BOISE — Idaho’s top wildlife official on Tuesday requested authorization from state lawmakers to spend $408,000 to count wolves.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Ed Schriever told the Legislature’s budget-setting committee that the expense would become part of the agency’s annual budget to keep a running tally of the number of wolves in the state.

Idaho stopped counting wolves in 2015 after it was no longer required to do so by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service following the lifting of protections for wolves under the Endangered Species Act.

The move prompted speculation ranging from the wolf population getting out control to wolves heading toward extermination.

“I felt we could no longer continue without an annual wolf population estimate,” Schriever, who has held the post for a year, told lawmakers on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

In April, he cobbled together existing efforts to count wolves, and last week announced there are 1,000 wolves in Idaho based on information from 600 cameras scattered around the state. The population had been closer to 1,500 early in the summer of 2019 but was reduced through hunting, trapping and killing of wolves that preyed on livestock.

“We won’t speculate any longer on whether the population is increasing or decreasing,” Schriever said. “That makes the wolf management plan actually useful for us now that we know which direction the population will be moving.”

Republican Rep. Neil Anderson said he previously spoke with Schriever about wolves and had concerns.

“I still have a little heartburn over $400,000 a year to count wolves, which equates to a little over $4 million a decade, and even then it’s only a rough estimate,” Anderson said.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is a self-funded agency that doesn’t use money from the state’s general fund. Instead, most of its money comes from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses and tags plus federal money. The agency’s requested budget for fiscal year 2021, which starts this summer, is about $125 million.

The committee won’t start setting budgets for several more weeks.

In a related matter, the Senate Resources and Environment Committee last week voted to clear the way for a hearing on the creation of wolf-free zones and wolf-depredation zones in the state that’s intended to protect the livelihood of ranchers.

Should be like coyotes year round no tag no limits

Just for the record, Brackett owns a ranch in unit 46, one of those on the list. For the most part, wolves haven't been a problem in that whole area that I've heard of. This bill wouldn't make much of difference. All of those units are open for 8 months and a few year round on private land. We can buy 5 tags a year for $11 each (resident). It's a huge area out there and most is high desert. There are some mountains in a few spots but they're largely sagebrush covered. One exception to that is unit 54 which is maybe 50% timbered but still with a lot of open sagebrush.
The problem is 1000+ wolves are scattered over 83,000 square miles. You don't just get up some morning and decide to run out and shoot you a wolf. I've seen tracks many times but I've only seen wolves while hunting 1 time and I was driving at the time. They didn't stick around when they saw the pickup. To find one, you need information from someone who's there and knows where a pack is hanging out. A rancher can keep his men armed and on their toes if some are in the area.

Considering the size of the state and some of terrain involved, that's probably not an unreasonable figure. For that matter, I have no idea how you can count them anyway. There are lots of known packs that can be observed but they have huge territories and move constantly.
The IDFG's entire budget comes from hunting and fishing license and tag sales. They get very little tax money and they don't have a spare $400k. If the legislature wants them counted, they'll have to cough up to get it done. When the wolves were introduced, management was dumped on the IDFG with no money to go with it.

I've been down in deep SW idaho - very desolate place .
Walked out a lot of country down there predator calling , have to say i saw very little deer antelope and i mean VERY Little .

There were wolves there back in 07-08 - saw their tracks . Saw a mule deer kill - freshly eaten different size tracks from baseball size to softball size .

I'd cross pathes with a rangehand now and then they said there had always been wolves in and out of the area .

When traveling down there you better have plenty of gas/water/food/time if you break down .

And yes tagging a wolf in an area that vast would be your lucky day .

Thats stupid.


Wolves were there first.


Those children on that play ground are trespassing. Its only right for a few of them to get snatched up.

Agreed.

A couple years before the introduction, my son and I watched 2 native wolves running a calf elk near Stanley. Under the ESA, they should have been propagated and protected. Instead they deliberately violated the law and brought in the grays. It probably took no more than 2 years before the natives were extinct, killed or bred out of existance.

They don't have enough fear of man. Get that back and you can keep the population down, naturally. We have dealt with them here all my life, if you need to get serious controlling them bait pIles in winter work second best. Only poison works better.

Osky

I've spent a lot of time in 54 even though I live in eastern Idaho now. I've seen wolf sign in area 54 over 10 years ago but never seen a wolf fore sure there. There's a lot more elk there than there used to be and the deer populations seem way down. I know others that have seen wolves there and have found kills.

The first wolf I ever saw was in the owyhees south west of Boise in about 2001. We saw a big black one cross the road in front of us and run off through the sage brush. We went to town and to fish and game and they said it couldn't have been a wolf out there. We said ok we're going to go back and track it down and shoot it. They said no don't do that you'll end up in federal prison. We said why, you said it couldn't be a wolf. We would have never have found it. They remain pretty tough to find.

Bb

Unit 54 used to have 1500 deer tags. Now its 500. The '19 harvest numbers aren't out yet and the '18 numbers appear to be screwed up. They had 500 tags but only show 44 hunters taking 6 bucks. Those tags are in demand and there's no way that only 44 out of 500 hunted.
Elk numbers all along the NV border are really increasing. There are some monster bulls there. It's a hard tag to draw, though.
There are also a lot of cougars in that area which will account for a lot of deer kills.

At the rate the state of Idaho is killing elk the wolves may well starve to death... Or just shoot them at night like they do the elk!!!

Seriously treat the damn things like coyotes and just shoot them in sight.

Too stupid to detect sarcasm, huh?

15 wolf tags per person now and 15 per trapper..

And for self defense,you don't need a tag or season to kill one!

LOL

+1, not real impressed with Idaho Fish and Game at the moment. I'm still on the same plan with wolves that I have been since their introduction. SSS.

I haven't been real impressed with them for years. Cant wait for their next Delphi technique survey to come out.

Bb

I'm waiting for the '19 elk harvest reports to come out. I want to know what happened in units 49/50 and 45/52 with those 5000 cow tags. They didn't get the usual snow until Thanksgiving this year so they might have not moved down yet.

Update: This was approved by the Fish and Game Commission and is effective immediately. They also extended wolf seasons in many other units. In much of the state, wolf hunting is now year round on both public and private land. Wolf tags are only $11 for residents ($32 non-res). The annual limit is 15 wolves per hunter.

I think this is enough [just enough] to slowly turn things around , but i could be wrong .

Dropping them from game animal status should be the next step .
Private landowners should be able to hunt them from the air and at night 24/7/365 .